Thursday, June 29, 2017

This
week, given the controversy that had erupted in May, I invited Jan Harzan back
to talk about that, among other things. I covered the part of the program that
dealt with the MUFON Inner Circle in a much longer post that can be seen here:

The
last part of the program dealt with some of the speakers who had been invited
to the MUFON Symposium. While it seemed that Harzan admitted that some of the
tales being told were not as credible as others, he also suggested that MUFON
had an obligation to provide its membership with diverse opinions and let them
decide for themselves what they wanted to believe. You can listen to Jan Harzan
here:

(And
if you have trouble with the link, try YouTube and A Different Perspective,
Kevin Randle, Jan Harzan. That should get you to the proper interview.)

I
had hoped that MUFON might use discretion in selecting the speakers, especially
given some of the wild tales being told, but it seems that most viewpoints are
welcome, no matter how far out… except for those that are not welcome… While I
am not a fan of Michael Horn and his drumbeating for the Billie Meier contact
case, apparently MUFON agrees with that assessment. They have not provided Horn
with a platform which makes me wonder how they decide what is credible enough
for their Symposium.

Monday, June 26, 2017

This
week I spoke with Dr. Irena McCammon Scott who had published the book, UFO’s Today: 70 Years of Lies,
Misinformation and Government Coverup. I had hoped that we would be able to
talk about what was new in the book and when I asked, she pointed to a tale of
Cordell Hull who had talked about alien bodies stored under the Capitol
building in Washington, D.C. The problem is that the tale is not new and was
reported in the International UFO
Reporter in the winter 2001 – 2002 issue. There doesn’t seem to be much in
the way of corroboration for the story. You can listen to the interview here:

(And,
as always, you can find it on YouTube by searching A Different Perspective with
Kevin Randle. Just add Dr. Scott’s name.)

We
did speak at length about the Kenneth Arnold sighting, and I wanted to know
more about Maury Island where a damaged UFO had touched down, leaving some
debris behind. Although we talked about the story being a hoax, Dr. Scott fell
back on the position that it was a hoax, but there was a Men in Black component
in it. She didn’t know that one of the witnesses, Fred Crisman, had been in
contact with Ray Palmer, the science fiction editor year or two earlier and who
had leaped onto the flying saucer bandwagon the first chance he got. The Men in
Black were probably Crisman and his partner Harold Dahl, who seemed to be
leaking everything to the newspaper and frightening poor old Ken Arnold. Arnold
believed his hotel room had been bugged because of the articles in the
newspaper. I don’t think we ever got through that, but I gave it a try.

We
did speak briefly about the nonsensical story of Charles H. Forgus, the Texas
deputy sheriff who claimed to have seen the crash site and the bodies of the
alien creatures found near Roswell. I reported on this a while back and you can
read the story here:

Saturday, June 24, 2017

Although
the MUFON Inner Circle is announced on MUFON’s website, and there seems to be
no attempt to keep the elite organization hidden, very few of the MUFON members
I queried had any idea that it existed. It currently is made up of thirteen
members, which seems to be more coincidence than design, but that number does
seem to have mysterious connotations for some. I don’t believe it significant,
only a little bizarre.

Membership
is limited to those who have an extra five grand that they can use each year to
buy their place in the Inner Circle. That seems to be the only real qualification
for membership. According to MUFON, “The Inner Circle status is obtained
through a yearly donation of $5,000. Whether you have had a UFO sighting or are
just interested in UFOs, you are welcome to join.”

The
site then reports, “Inner Circle members provide
advisory guidance to MUFON and are included in annual conference calls,
attend private functions and cocktail parties during Symposium time, are
afforded reserved seating at MUFON events, and much more!”

It
is also noted, “You’ll be joining a very select group of UFO enthusiasts who
stop at nothing in pursuit of knowledge about the UFO phenomenon and
extraterrestrials. You’ll meet other Inner Circle members at MUFON who are kindred spirits and you’ll participate in Inner Circle-ONLY events.”

The
benefits, again, according to MUFON, include access to the MUFON Director’s
annual conference call and latest UFO reports, access to the MUFON Director’s
live annual post symposium review, including speaker’s comments and personal
insights shared with MUFON Director one on one, followed by 30-minute live
Q&A session with the MUFON Director. An Inner Circle member also receives
free admission to the MUFON Symposium each year of donation, special reserved
seating for two in MUFON Director’s section during MUFON Symposium, along with
photos with the MUFON Director and Keynote Speaker at the MUFON Symposium.
There are three LIVE (emphasis on the website) “Closed Door” conference calls
with the MUFON Director, soliciting “your
input regarding UFO Research and Public Awareness. Director will also share
unpublished current UFO cases with information generally unknown by public or
Media.” And finally, it includes a lifetime membership to MUFON which includes
the MUFON e-Journal.

At
first glance, these perks to membership in the Inner Circle don’t seem to be
worth the yearly contribution to MUFON coffers. It might be seen as more of a
status thing than as a way to make a
contribution to UFO research and some of the members have a rather checkered
background. The emphasis on “special reserved seating, photos with the Director
and Keynote Speakers and the “Closed Door’ conference calls,” seem to smack of
elitism, but then is that such a big deal?

And,
at siccolinks.website>back_up>index_058, it says, “Members of this elite
group provide insight and direction to the course MUFON takes in it’s [sic]
daily activities.” That is a point where this Inner Circle becomes important especially
as we look at the list of those who are members of the Inner Circle really are.

John Ventre

I’ve
already detailed in another post some of the trouble that John Ventre, who had
bought his place in the Inner Circle, brought to MUFON as a whole. His racist
rant on Facebook in May 2017, his doubling down by suggesting some sort of
demonic component to the UFO phenomenon a few days later, and his overall
attitude gives rise to questions about the Inner Circle and the only real qualification
to join.

I
have also learned that while Ventre was removed as the state director for
Pennsylvania and Delaware, he has been assigned duties as the state treasurer
and the conference coordinator according to Lon Strickler. I had asked Harzan during
my radio interview with him if Ventre had been reduced to “journal subscriber,”
but meant it more as a joke, not realizing that Harzan didn’t actually answer
the question. Instead he said that anyone was allowed to join MUFON and, of
course, he hadn’t been removed from the Inner Circle which seemed to me to be
more problematic. That suggested that the monetary contribution to MUFON was the
important aspect. But then, Ventre is not the only member who has these bizarre
and racist beliefs.

J
Z Knight is another of those whose membership might be questioned. She is a
“New Age Leader,” who channels a 35,000-year-old Lemurian warrior who
apparently participated in the downfall of Atlantis and who endorsed Donald
Trump in the last election. (I note here that I would have mentioned if he had
endorsed Hillary Clinton.) In March 2011, Knight was on stage addressing
hundreds of those interested in what she had to say, which seemed to be nothing
more than a drunken rant, according to Susy Buchanan of the Southern Poverty
Law Center. Although Knight claimed, or it is suggested the words aren’t hers
but rather Ramtha, the Lemurian she channels, he (meaning Ramtha) said, “Fuck
God’s chosen people [meaning the Jews]! I think they’ve earned enough cash to
have paid their way out of the goddamned gas chambers by now.”

She,
or rather Ramtha, added that Mexicans “breed like rabbits,” all gay men were
once Catholic priests and in a strange comment, organic farmers have
questionable hygiene. I don’t know what that last means.

Buchanan
noted that these remarks would have remained private except that in 2012, they
were posted to the web, again according to Buchanan, by Knight’s ex-student Virginia
Coverdale and a fellow named David McCarthy. This embarrassed Democratic
candidates who had received some $70,000 from Knight, which also suggests that
she had enough money to hand over five grand to MUFON on a yearly basis so that
she can enter the Inner Circle. To their credit, the candidates returned the
donations.

In
the article cited above, there was a note I found interesting which was that
Knight had been borne Judith Darlene Hampton in 1946 in Roswell, New Mexico.
(It seems no matter how hard I try, I can’t get away from Roswell which is the
only reason I mention this.)

It
is also suggested that Knight owes no apologies to any to those she might have
offended during her drunken rant because she employs lapsed Catholics, former
Jews, a lesbian and a Mexican-born man in her Inner Circle (but doesn’t seem to
employ an organic farmer). Somehow her association with them absolves her of
any charges of bigotry or racism. She also claims that the videos used as the
basis for Buchanan’s article are heavily edited and that “Coverdale couldn’t
keep the man she was after for more than three weeks and hated me for it.”

Much
of what Buchanan had to say also has appeared on Wikipedia with a long list of
sources that can be accessed for additional confirmation. There are also
articles from television stations and newspapers that seem to validate the
claims of the racist rants that Buchanan raised.

There
are others whose backgrounds and comments aren’t quite so dramatic. David
MacDonald, who is also a member of the MUFON Board of Directors as well as a
member of the Inner Circle, started the Flamingo Air which was sort of a
charter service but it had an added component. For a fee, a couple could hire
one of the aircraft so that they might join the “Mile High Club,” and yes, it
is exactly what you think it is. Is this egregious? Not really, but then, it
isn’t exactly something that an organization that works in the UFO field wants
its board members (and former Director) to be doing. In fact, a couple of MUFON
members said that they had left the organization when they learned about this. It
seems to reflect poorly on the organization, but, of course, not as poorly as
some of the other activities.

Jan Harzan

But
note here, while the excursions for the Mile-High Club can be seen as little
more than a business profit center, MacDonald is also on the Board of
Directors. This would seem to negate the claim made by a few that the Inner
Circle has no influence with the daily operations of MUFON. While a single
board member who is also in the Inner Circle might not hold much power,
remember the Jan Harzan, who is the Executive Director and a board member is
also in the Inner Circle.

Harzan,
however, when questioned about this, said that the Inner Circle exerted no
influence on MUFON. This was merely a profit center, what he termed as a
donation level perk and that anyone, regardless of their beliefs, their
opinions, or their knowledge of UFOs was free to join. All it took was the five
grand and for that they received nothing of consequence and they, just as
everyone else, could call the Executive Director to chat with him about UFOs.
You can listen to Harzan’s interview here:

But
the website said, ““Inner Circle members provide
advisory guidance to MUFON and are included in annual conference calls,
attend private functions…” which sounds like something more significant than
just getting together to chat about UFOs. It sounds as if it is more than just
someone handing over that kind of money with no expectation of privilege. You
might compare it to major contributors to a political campaign or political
party. Those people do expect some sort of quid
pro quo for the money.

Add
to that, “You’ll meet other Inner Circle members at MUFON who are kindred spirits (they might want to
remove this given how some of those kindred spirits speak about others) and
you’ll participate in Inner Circle-ONLY
events…” We don’t know what those other Inner Circle only events might be,
but I suspect it is something more than just a party at someone’s house. And,
if you are meeting with Inner Circle members who are either on the Board of
Directors or are the Executive Director, you have an opportunity to affect
MUFON’s direction simply by having the opportunity to meet, one on one, with
the Executive Director who certainly does exert influence on the direction
MUFON takes.

Also
suggesting something more than a donation level as Harzan repeatedly claimed,
and that anyone can call the Executive Director, there are “… three LIVE
(emphasis on the website) ‘Closed Door’ conference calls with the MUFON
Director, soliciting ‘your input
regarding UFO Research and Public Awareness.’’

So,
while anyone can call the Executive Director, can everyone expect a return
telephone call? And, will the Executive Director be interested in their
“advisory guidance?” Claiming that the Inner Circle members exert no influence,
but attempting to entice people to join by suggesting there will be influence
as the Executive Director is “soliciting” their input is somewhat contradictory.
If all this Inner Circle does is contribute money, then why is the Executive Director
soliciting their input.

While
it seems that many of those who have joined the Inner Circle have the best
intentions, supporting an organization they believe to be of some benefit,
shouldn’t they be troubled by the attitudes of a couple of their fellow Inner
Circle members? The racist rants wouldn’t be tolerated in almost any other
arena, but here, they are ignored because those holding those extreme views
allegedly have no influence on the organization and have Inner Circle status solely
based on the size of their wallets, at least according to Harzan.

But
when we look in other directions, political campaigns often return money given
by those with extreme views. They don’t want to be associated with people who
think in the extreme and have the power to purchase a platform.

And
to suggest that this is merely free speech, as Harzan did, is to overlook the
real trouble here. Yes, you can say whatever you wish, but there are
consequences to some of that free speech, especially when directed in an antagonistic
way to a specific group. You simply can’t advocate, indirectly, violence
against a group because of skin color, religious belief, ethnicity (which is
different from skin color) or other less than objective criterion. I will
defend your right to say whatever you wish but I will also note that you must
take responsibility for that speech. You can’t dismiss a bigoted, racist point
of view simply by calling it free speech.

I
will add this. While I am exercising my right to free speech here, I know that
I am offending some. Those who toil at the lower levels of MUFON, who believe
in what is being done, will be annoyed with what I say here. I don’t mean to
offend them. They are sort of caught in the crossfire. I do believe that the
facts I have laid out here need to be seen and reviewed. I expect nasty
comments to the blog (and for those keeping score at home, attack me personally
and the comment will not see the light of day… make an argument against my
conclusions here and the like, I’ll be happy to post it… free speech), but I am
opening a dialogue about all this and accept the animosity as part of the deal.
But you’ll notice that I’m not attacking anyone for being black, Jewish,
Mexican, Asian, female or white. I am exposing what I see as a hypocrisy at the
top of the MUFON food chain. Harzan even joked about it, saying that he’d
remove J Z Knight as a state director, but she wasn’t one. He wasn’t concerned
about the image that projected to the rest of the world, which I would have
thought would have been one of the more important elements of the discussion.

What
it boils down to here is this: is the Inner Circle nothing more than a donation
level group, or does it actually have a larger function and influential impact
as suggested by the Inner Circle information on the web site? Does it help
influence the direction of MUFON or is it just a cash cow created to stroke the
egos of a few people who have more dollars than sense? There is a contradiction
here which suggests that the Executive Director is not overly concerned with
the radical and expressed views of some of these people because they have
money. He says, on the one hand, they have no influence, but the web site says
they do and if they do, then the leadership owes it to the membership to
address these concerns.

(I
will note here that the situation seems to change day by day, but there hasn’t
been the response from the leadership that you would expect… I found some of
the things said by Harzan during my interview to be said more as a joke than
anything else, including his seemingly tongue in cheek claim that he had sort
of bought his position as Executive Director. MUFON needs real leadership and
not lip service.)

Sunday, June 18, 2017

For
those of you who tuned into Midnight in
the Desert to listen to me discuss the latest MJ-12 document release, well,
I was bumped early in the evening because Heather Wade had “overbooked the
show.” At least I wasn’t dragged off by security for refusing to give up my
place at the microphone… which couldn’t have happened since I was at home and
she controlled the telephone system anyway.

But
I did listen to the beginning of the program because like so many others, I
wondered what Stan Friedman would say about the authenticity. Like many of us,
he was interested in the source of the documents. They had seemed to excite him
in earlier statements, but he now was somewhat more neutral though a careful
reading of them should have given away the false nature of them... The mere
mention that the Interplanetary Phenomenon Unit (IPU) was involved should have been
a huge red flag. The IPU has been identified and it has nothing to do with
aliens or UFOs or anything of the nature. For more about the IPU see:

http://kevinrandle.blogspot.com/search?q=IPU

I
found one point hilarious and which nearly everyone has failed to mention. The
first page says, “READ-AND-DESTROY. I have to wonder how the document survived
with that instruction on the first page, which also argues against authenticity.
I will note here that a top secret document’s destruction must be documented
saying that it has been properly destroyed. Whoever “stole” this one would have
had to violate that rule because he would have had to sign the destruction
form.

Heather
wouldn’t name names, and in one respect I understand that but that also tends
to undermine the validity of the documents. She did say that the person who
“stole” them originally had died so that he or she can’t be questioned about how
he or she gained possession of them.

Heather
hadn’t received the originals either. They had come to her in a .pdf file,
which, as I have noted in the past, does not allow for much in the way of a
forensic analysis of the paper, ink or anything else that might be gained by
examination of the originals. We are left with a study of the format, the font,
if the documents conformed to others created at the highest-levels of the
government and if the documents fit into our current understanding of the
situations being discussed in them.

Instead
of analysis of these latest documents on the show, we were treated to another
waltz down MJ-12 memory lane from the alleged moment the original documents
first arrived at Jaime Shandera’s house in 1984 to the point we have reached
now. There was nothing new here, other than listening to Stan talk about all
his visits to archives, and he enjoys to do so (and hey, that is fun going
through all this material, looking for that single and often elusive nugget)
and things he had learned about the men who were named to the original MJ-12
committee, all of which was irrelevant to understanding these new documents.

For
those who haven’t looked at them yet, though they can now be accessed through a
variety of websites including that for Midnight
in the Desert. You can still find them here if you are still interested:

I
have outlined some of the many mistakes in these documents already and find it
difficult to believe that something created at this level would be so riddled
with errors. I am sorely tempted to enumerate the errors in the Roswell section
but will refrain from doing that. Anyone interested can take a look at Roswell in the 21st Century
(or almost any of the other Roswell books) and compare the information there
with that in this document. The errors will be apparent and we have to think
that anyone who was far enough inside of the loop to be writing this document
would be cognizant of the facts of the case.

I’m
going to move onto the Aztec case which was covered in depth here. Stan had
made a big deal out of the research in Scott Ramsey’s book while he was on Midnight in the Desert and how careful
and meticulous it has been. But this document is at a wide variance with what
Ramsey published. This sets up a conundrum… if the document is accurate, then
Ramsey is wrong but if Ramsey is right, then the document is fake and I haven’t
even mentioned the possibility that both are wrong and Aztec is a hoax.

According
to the document, on March 25, 1948, the craft was watched on three radars
“belonging to the recovery network of the White Sands Test Range and located in
classified areas of southwest New Mexico.” In 1948, it was the White Sands
Proving Ground, and if the radars were in southwest New Mexico, that would have
prevented tracking of the object to low altitudes in northern New Mexico because
the mountainous terrain would have been in the way. In fact, once you get very
far north of White Sands, their radars aren’t much good for an object below
10,000 feet. Radar is line of sight.

Again,
according to the document, the crash site was secured by 10:45 p.m. that night,
which meant that no civilians would have been gathered at the site on the
morning of March 25 to watch the military arrive because the object had yet to
crash according to these new documents. And, if the civilians were on hand to
see the military to arrive, it would have had to be on the morning of March 26,
but then the site was already secured and the civilians would have been
prevented from getting near.

We
are treated to a reference to the base at Flat Rock, Nevada, which, of course,
was the scene of much of the action in The
Andromeda Strain. We learn that the Blue Berets (whoever they are… no, they
don’t exist) came in disguised as National Guard, but I’m not sure how you pull
that off since the uniforms worn by the National Guard are the same wore by
those on active duty with the Army. I suppose they removed their Blue Berets
and wore regulation headgear.

Stephen Bassett

But
there really doesn’t seem much reason to drag this out. The documents are
faked. I spoke with Stephen Bassett yesterday afternoon, and almost the first
thing he said to me was that he too thought the documents faked. We discussed
some of the bloopers in text, the problems with the classification markings,
and all the other errors. Bassett said that he didn’t think these were
disinformation, but more likely just someone outside the government who had too
much time on his hands. I’ll add someone who didn’t actually know much but who had
gotten his hands of William Steinman’s book UFO
Crash at Aztec.

What
we need to do now is place these documents in the same file folder with the
Roswell Slides, the alien autopsy and little grey men who like strawberry ice
cream and Tibetan music. Footnotes in the great journal of UFO information, or
maybe, even better, have them all deleted from anything to do with UFO research
because they have only distracted us. They have added nothing to our knowledge.

There
was sad news yesterday. In my conversation with Stephen Bassett, he mentioned
that Jim Marrs was gravely ill. He is dealing with dialysis at home, which is
not a pleasant experience and is suggestive of a very bad situation. We should all hope for the best outcome for him.

Thursday, June 15, 2017

(Blogger's Note: Normally I would take more time to edit this, but there is pressure to get something posted. This is my opinion based on what I have seen, read, and researched since I was alerted to the documents at 4:18 p.m. CDT on June 14. Excuse the typos...)

The field where Mack Brazel is alleged to have found the
metallic debris. Photo copyright by Kevin
Randle.

Okay,
I’ve had time to review the document carefully, or rather given it a solid
first reading and I have some points to make. I will note here that in my talks
with Stephen Bassett, he suggested that all of us, meaning Stan Friedman,
Richard Dolan, him and me, create a list of what our first impressions are, and
the things that we spotted right off the top. I thought that idea had some
merit. We’re not looking to authenticate or debunk, only at the things that
disturbed us in some fashion.

I
did ask Heather Wade about the source, or sources, and she didn’t give me
names, only that they were ex-military and had possessed the documents for a
very long time. She didn’t know which government agency had originated them,

Richard Dolan. Copyright byKevin Randle

and there seemed no way to verify them through government sources. We also seem
to suffer from the same problems that we’ve always had and that is that we’re
working from copies and not originals. This makes the whole process problematic…
and I think we can point to many cases in which copies of documents have turned
out to be forgeries (think CBS and George W. Bush’s military records and any
number of MJ-12 documents).

The
classification markings on the documents do not seem to be consistent with
authenticity, that is, the classification is not marked at both the top and the
bottom of the document.

The
dating format, 07 July, 1947, is not one that was in use in 1947, but I suppose
you could argue that this format is consistent with the other MJ-12 documents
even if it is more consistent with a dating format used by Bill Moore.

The
use of “Ultra Top Secret” also raises questions. Ultra was the British code
name for their operation to intercept and read high-level, highly-classified
Nazi message traffic. This code name seems inappropriate for use by the US
government or military. In keeping with that, there are several mentions that
these documents are classified “Above Top Secret,” but that is really a misnomer…
Top Secret is the highest classification, but the number of people allowed to
review certain documents can be further restricted by adding a code word. Only
those who are code word cleared would have access to the document and by adding
a second code word you restrict the numbers even further. So, if there are two
code words, you have a document that can be said to be two points above top
secret, though that is not actually a fact. While we can argue the semantics of
this, I don’t believe someone on the inside would talk of a document being
classified two points above top secret, but rather suggesting it was double
code word protected.

Jesse Marcel, Sr.

The
description of the Roswell case, and the chronology is not accurate based on
all the documented evidence available. As but a single example, the document
tells us that Mack Brazel alerted the authorities at Roswell Army Air Forces
base (which is not the correct name of the facility) at “05:18” (which should
have been written as 0518 hrs) though it is clear that it was the sheriff who
alerted the Army and Major Marcel himself said that he learned about it as he
was eating lunch.

One
of the major red flags is, “At his arrival in Roswell, General Twining relieved
Colonel Blanchard of command…” There is no evidence of any such order. The
relief of a commanding officer is a major event. Had Twining arrived in Roswell
and assumed command by virtue of being the senior officer present, that is not
the same thing.

I’m
going to leave the Roswell segment here, though I see many other problems, and
move onto the “Aztec UFO Crash,” which is featured more prominently (which
means I’m not even going to discuss the fraudulent IPU). As I was reading this,
I thought the same thing that one of the commenters made on the previous post,
that is, I was reminded of William Steinman’s nonsensical book, UFO Crash at Aztec. If we compare this
to Scott Ramey’s book, The Aztec Incident,
the chronology here is all wrong. If we accept Ramey’s book as accurate, then
the document fails (which is sort of a point in another arena).

In
this document, they have changed the times which had been Mountain Standard Time,
to what they call Local Time or LT. If this was strictly a military document, I
would have expected the times to be converted to Greenwich Mean Time or Zulu
Time. Not really a fatal flaw but one that seems to be out of place.

I’m
now going to skip all the trouble with the Aztec aspect of this simply because
there is so much that is simply wrong. And if this is a real briefing, where is
the mention of Del Rio, Plains of San Agustin and Kingman? They mention other crashes but provide no detail, probably because these details would be difficult to find and easy to refute.

Anyway,
we are now treated to the transcript between an EBE and an assortment of
interviewers who are never named for a reason that I can’t fathom (unless, of
course, they don’t exist). At first glance, I was drawn to the comment about
why the aliens had coming to Earth for centuries and learned, “And we like
trees?” I wondered if this was the same group of aliens that liked strawberry
ice cream and Tibetan music.

I
did mention this to Stephen Bassett who wondered if someone had gone to all the
trouble to fake the documents, all the study that it had taken and the time to
create it, if he or she would then sabotage the effort with some ridiculous,
off the wall comment about liking trees.

My
first reaction was to think that was an interesting point, but I had yet to
carefully read the document. Having now done so, I see that there really is
nothing new here. The information about Roswell is wrong, the name of the base
is wrong, the chain of command is wrong, and even the higher headquarters at
Fort Worth is wrong (it wasn’t the 5th Air Force, but the 8th).

Stan Friedman. Copyright byKevin Randle

The
Aztec material is derivative of Steinman’s book, the MJ-12 information is taken
from there (or maybe from any of Stan Friedman’s many writings on it), and
there is nothing that is suggestive of advanced scholarship. The writing does
not sound as if it came from a government source, and without names, without
government agencies, without any way to check things out, this just doesn’t
seem to be authentic. I withheld my opinion on this, just announcing that the documents have been released so
others would have a chance to review them, but it is now clear that
this does nothing to further our knowledge and just confuses an already
confused issue.

Wednesday, June 14, 2017

For
those of you keeping score at home, there has been another bunch of MJ-12
documents dumped on us. I was alerted to this by Stephen Bassett, he of UFO
lobbying and Disclosure fame. He told me of the documents that were at the Midnight in the Desert website ( I will talk about this Friday, June 16 beginning at 1:30 a.m CDT on that program), documents that
Heather Wade had been given, and they can be viewed here:

Now,
I have not had a chance to review them in great detail but I have scanned them.
There are some problematic parts, or elements, in these documents, but then
even documents that come with a complete pedigree, which is to say a proper
provenance, sometimes have parts that argue against authenticity. In other
words, I find some things wrong, but aren’t comfortable with rejecting without
a in depth reading of them.

In
my conversation with Bassett, he suggested three outcomes for the research: 1.
They are authentic. 2. They are a hoax put together by someone in the UFO
community for any of a number of reasons. 3. They are disinformation (though at
the moment I’m at a loss as to why the disinformation agents would toss these
out now). Bassett thought it might have something to do with the possibility of
Disclosure moving closer to reality so this was something of a pre-emptive
strike.

As
it stands at the moment, I will be joined on my radio program, cleverly called A Different Perspective, by Stephen
Bassett in a special, two-hour edition. By then, both of us will have had a
chance to review the documents, talk to some experts, and be able to describe
what we think.

Thursday, June 08, 2017

This
week I reached out to Joy Steele who had offered an alternative explanation for
the depression found on Oak Island that became known as the Money Pit. We
started with a brief history of the area, but given the time constraints, had
to work through that quickly so that some of the information was condensed. You can listen to the interview here:

There
is other information about Joy, her investigations into the mystery of Oak
Island, research into South Carolina earth kilns of the eighteenth century and
how all that relates to Oak Island. You can see some of that here:

The
point she was making, and one that sometimes gets lost in the controversy, is
that the construction and the look of these kilns seems to match that of the
original money pit right down to the flagstones found two feet down and the
vault that was found during one of the attempts to find the money. Debris found
inside the pit itself, and some of the artifacts found on the island also
support this conclusion. The swamp area, according to Steele, would have been
necessary for their work in repairing ships if her theory is correct, and the
Laginas boys had found debris in the swamp that suggested there had been a
ship, or ships there in the distant past.

Other
aspects of the Oak Island mystery are explained by the evidence found on the
ground, including what appeared to be a British camp on the island in the
eighteenth century. Given the real lack of results in the search for treasure,
and that some of the artifacts pulled from the money pit might have been put
there to induce investors to spend additional money, what she said made a lot
of sense.

Monday, June 05, 2017

This
week I tried something a little different, or more accurately, Larry Lawson of Paranormal Stakeout and I did something
a little different. Lawson was on my show and we talked about UFOs and the
paranormal but then, later, I was on his show and talked about the paranormal
with a smattering of UFOs involved. We wanted to have two shows connected by
the paranormal but exploring that topic from our distinct perspectives. You can
listen to them here:

(And
as I always say, you can find the shows on YouTube by typing in A Different Perspective. Add the guest’s
name and it will take you directly to the correct show. For the Paranormal Stakeout, do the same thing
and you’ll be able to listen to both parts of the shows.)

On
Paranormal Stakeout, I had an
opportunity to talk about a book, Conversations,
I had done a number of years ago that began as an abduction and became a past
live regression. I always thought it was an interesting story with a young
woman and her horrific dreams that seemed quite real to her. To my surprise, as
we explored this using hypnotic regression we learned the details of her past
lives and I was able to confirm much of what she was saying in those
pre-Internet days. Though I mentioned it on Paranormal
Stakeout, the book, of course, goes into more detail.

Those
of you who wish more information about Larry Lawson and Paranormal Stakeout,
take a look at xzbn.net and just follow the links. You can also visit his
website at www.paranormalstakeout.com.

Saturday, June 03, 2017

(Blogger’s
Note: Yes, I’m late to the table with this, but the information kept shifting.
I wanted to be sure that I had been fair to all those involved and that I had
the latest information. For example, I had Jan Harzan’s original statement
several days ago, but it was only in the last couple of days that he sent me
the latest information. Given that, I wanted to know Nick Redfern’s attitude
now that the John Ventre episode had entered a new phase. There are still
questions that haven’t been answered and I hope to get those answers soon. They
will spawn a new posting when that information is finalized.)

Back
many years ago, decades actually, I was looking to join one of the UFO
organizations. I wrote to both NICAP and APRO. NICAP responded with a form
letter and membership application. APRO responded to my questions. I joined
APRO. I became a Field Investigator, corresponded with Coral Lorenzen the real
power behind APRO, and eventually met her and Jim Lorenzen, visited them in
Tucson, and had a very good working relationship with both of them.

I
mention this by way of preamble, and now mention something Coral told me, again
decades ago, and is the reason that I have avoided membership in MUFON (not to
mention some of the very nasty things said about me by some of their membership
and in the MUFON UFO Journal).
According to Coral, back in the mid-1960s, Walt Andrus, who was an APRO member,
suggested that he organize the Field Investigators in the Midwest into some
sort of subordinate group to coordinate that activity. He would call it the
Midwest UFO Network.

Sometime
later, Andrus broke away to form his own, independent group, taking some of
those APRO members with him. Coral was more than a little annoyed about that
because she believed that the core of his new group was made of APRO members
whose contact information had been provided by APRO.

I’ll
go one step further. Back when Gerald Anderson inserted himself into the
Roswell UFO crash, or rather claiming he had been over on the Plains of San
Agustin with Barney Barnett, I suggested that Anderson tale might not be grounded
in reality and that we (Don Schmitt and I) had caught him, Anderson, in a
number of statements that weren’t true. As a single example, Anderson had
produced a telephone bill suggesting that his telephone call to me had been
only 26 minutes, when I had a tape of that call that ran to more than 50.

At
a MUFON Symposium Walt Andrus came up to me to express his concern about what I
had been saying about Anderson, saying that I was wrong and that the “truth
will out.” In fact, a number of people had words to say about my suggestion
that Anderson had been less than candid. Within months we learned that Anderson
had forged the telephone bill to make me look bad and we’d had a friendly
conversation that lasted for more than 50 minutes as I had said all along. The
documentation I secured from the telephone company proved it…. And of those who
had condemned me, only one had the graciousness to admit his error and
apologize, Antonio Huneeus.

On
the other hand, Dennis Stacy was always cordial and when there was an article
coming up in the Journal that was
critical of me or my work, he provided the opportunity for rebuttal. Much of
that had to do with the Roswell case and the J. Bond Johnson nonsense about the
photographs taken in Brigadier General Roger Ramey’s office in July 1947.

John Ventre, photo copyrightby Ventre.

So
now we come to May 2017. MUFON has been in a state of flux for the last several
years with a number of director’s coming and going and their support for some
television programs of dubious quality. I’ll mention here, again, Jan Harzan’s
comment about television and documentaries. Sort of a way of separating the
lack of quality of Hangar 1 and
MUFON’s claimed standards of scientific methodology.

We
now read that John Ventre, the state director of both Pennsylvania and
Delaware, posted a racist rant on his personal Facebook page in a “review” of a
Netflix program that has nothing to do with UFOs. Although it had now been
removed, I found it at http://doubtfulnews.com/mufon-under-fire-for-pa-directors-absurd-racist-rant/for those who wish to read and
see for themselves if it is racist. I will say that I don’t find the first
three sentences as racist, but from there is seems to descend into that dark pit
we all should attempt to avoid.

Jan
Harzan soon posted an apology… okay, it was more of an attempt to support the
unpopular view of Ventre and suggest those who questioned him or rejected his
views were “haters.” Harzan wrote on the
MUFON website:

Any
national organization striving for excellence does not want to be embroiled in
its members’ personal, social media life – especially when it involves
sensitive issues like politics, race and religion. This past year it’s been
nearly impossible to take a public stand for a presidential candidate without a
spontaneous out-pour of vicious jabs and sneers from the other side. This in
many ways is a symptom of the new social media world we now live in where
everyone wants to express their opinion, quickly followed by those who oppose
it sending their hate posts to the world.

Who
is worse, the person posting, or the haters hating? If you need further
evidence of this just watch the nightly news where depending on which channel
you watch people line up behind one side of an issue, or the other, and then
begin yelling at each other.

It
was recently brought to my attention that one of our volunteers had posted a
comment on their [should be “his”] personal Facebook page that many found
offensive. It is not MUFON’s place to monitor our members and volunteer’s
social media sites and become the judge, jury, and executioner based on whether
we agree or disagree with a personal posting. This incident did, however, bring
to our attention some internal opportunities to update our process and
procedures regarding the use of social media by our volunteers and staff and
this is currently underway.

Finally,
it is okay to disagree with others, but let’s challenge ourselves to dialogue
with that person to first understand their rationale for the opinion they are
stating, and then begin a discussion with them on the subject. For only through
dialogue and discussion do we advance civilization. We all need to be building
each other up rather than tearing each other down. There is no justice in hate,
no matter what side of the fence you are on. On that we can all agree.

Harzan
seemed to be saying that everyone has a right to his opinion and the First
Amendment guarantees our right to say any damn thing we please. But there are
consequences to the right of free speech, especially when driven by ignorance,
and many of those who reacted to Ventre’s rant were not “haters” but were
expressing an outrage that in 2017 someone who is a prominent member of an
organization would hold such blatantly racist views.

To
answer Harzan’s question, “Who is worse, the person posting, or the haters
hating?” the answer is simple here. The person posting. Ventre started the
“discussion” with a post that suggested violence when he wrote that the “last
thing blacks want is for white males to organize…” The implication is clear
here and I’m not going to spell it out.

But
the real problem for MUFON and for the UFO community is the suggestion of an
overall conspiracy that has been growing and a suggestion that the courts, the
media, and nearly everyone else is conspiring against a single race and gender
of individuals. It is suggestive of a personal rage that is misdirected and is
outrageous in its conclusions.

And
while MUFON has no responsibility to monitor the personal postings and social
media accounts of its members, it does have a responsibility to its other
members who don’t hold those views, and to the society that Harzan appeals to
in his non-apology. Ventre can say what he wants, but with free speech comes
certain responsibility as well That is the part that so many seem to have
missed.

I
did wonder why MUFON leadership didn’t immediately disavow any association with
the racist attitudes expressed by Ventre. It seemed to me and a number of those
I routinely communicate with that the course of action is obvious but then I
learned of something called the MUFON Inner Circle. This is a group of people,
according to the website http://www.mufon.com/the-inner-circle.html, who have donated a pile of
money to MUFON. “The Inner Circle status is obtained though a yearly [emphasis added] donation of
$5,000. (Though there is some question of if it is a one-time donation or an
on-going thing.).” Ventre is a member of that circle so it seems that Harzan’s
lame comments are to protect a monetary source.

Then,
on May 31, I received a reply from Harzan to the several questions I had sent
him two days earlier. He wrote to the State Directors:

After
discussion with MUFON Leadership it has been determined that it is in the best
interest of both MUFON and Mr. Ventre that he be removed as State Director of
Pennsylvania. This is effective immediately. MUFON does not condone racial
discrimination in any form and has always provided equal opportunity to all
regardless of race, religion, sex, age or national origin and will proudly
continue to do so.

Nick Redfern. Photo copyrightby Kevin Randle

Many
weren’t impressed by Harzan’s original comments and the new statement did
nothing to change Nick Redfern’s position expressed days earlier. Given that
Harzan had labeled him as a hater for objecting to Ventre’s rant, he severed his
ties with MUFON, which is, of course, his right. MUFON will be poorer for the
desertion of Nick and of others who have also objected to the rant, because
many of them brought a great deal to the table. And in a suggestion, that
someone at MUFON understands the firestorm, they have removed Ventre’s books
from their website and seem to be severing their other ties with him. It would
be nice to see Ventre removed from the Inner Circle, but I suspect the five
grand will have something to do with that decision.

Ventre
should have been tossed from the organization and has been, or rather removed
as the state director of Pennsylvania and Delaware. He has been reduced to
“Journal Subscriber” which is sort of the lowest rung in the MUFON Hierarchy.

But
Ventre has also doubled down. Jason Colavito, at his web site, noted that
Ventre had “returned to social media to offer an explanation of what happened.
He blamed demons. These were not metaphorical demons, like when a celebrity
blames person demons for an addiction. No, he meant literal demons from hell.
Ventre wrote that he has become convinced that UFOs are actually demonic…” You
can read Colavita’s whole post here:

The
problem is that Ventre’s rant is clearly racist and should be universally
condemned and his latest statements do nothing to undo the damage he has done.
In the modern world that Harzan mentions, it should be understood that we don’t
condemn people because of their racial identity, we don’t reject them because
of gender, we don’t ignore those who are less gifted and we don’t advocate,
however tangentially, violence against them. While we do have free speech that
means we can say whatever we want without fear of the government dragging us
away in the middle of the night, it doesn’t mean that we aren’t responsible for
what we said and that others might take offense. It means that I have the right
to reject your speech, that I have the right to criticize it, and I am not required
to endorse or accept it and, of course, that same thing applies to you.

MUFON
should be reprimanded for the days of delay before making a move that everyone
knows it should have made immediately. No organization will stand when one of
its leaders expresses such outrageous opinions and then that organization fails
to act immediately when they learn what has been posted. I don’t understand why
the immediate response wasn’t to remove Ventre from his leadership roles as
soon as it was discovered that he had made the comments… and since they were
posted to his personal Facebook page, it was clear that he had made them.
Harzan should apologize for attempting to shift the “blame” to those who
responded to the Ventre and for calling them “haters,” rather than attempting
to gloss over the situation.

Now
the question is if Ventre remains in the Inner Circle or if MUFON will do the
right thing here and refund Ventre’s donation and toss him from that as well.

Friday, June 02, 2017

For
those of you who tuned in to hear James Clarkson, he bailed on the show, but
John Greenewald, of the Black Vault, was kind enough to fill in. We began by
talking about a recent announcement of a government document, published in this
century, that suggested an interest in UFOs. John said that while there had
been some very recent interest in the document, he’d had it on his website for
a number of years. There really wasn’t nothing new in the document and the
entry about UFOs was quite small. You can listen to John’s interview here:

(I
know that some have trouble with the various links I put up here so I note that
if you go to YouTube, you can type in “A Different Perspective,” and the name
of the guest, and you can listen to the programs there… or go to XZBN.net, and
follow the prompts to the specific program.)

The
interesting thing about this document was that in 2005 there had been some
discussion in the media about it and the reference to UFOs and in a matter of
weeks, there was a new version, an updated version, that contained no reference
to UFOs. While the document wasn’t all that interesting, the government’s
response after the information was published is interesting. Why did they work
so fast to replace that document?

(Yeah,
yeah, I know. You want to see the document and wonder why I haven’t told you
the name. John tells you how to find it during the show, but here’s the link:

So
now you can see how relatively unimportant that document is though the response
to it is.)

We
also talk about trouble with FOIA and how that situation has changed over the
years. For me, it just doesn’t seem to work as well as it once did and we are
all at the mercy of the various agencies involved, but they are still required
to respond. Although it might seem to be a little dull, it really is a
fascinating hour.

Next
week’s guest: Larry Lawson

Topic:
This is sort of a special program. We begin the hour talking about UFOs and how
they relate to the paranormal, and then on Larry’s show, I’m the guest and we
talk explore the paranormal in greater depth. It is a two-part show, but each
part does stand alone.